Hilton, the world’s leading hospitality company, has announced the appointment of three senior executives to its Middle East, Africa and Turkey (MEA&T) leadership team.
Aligi Gardenghi has been appointed Vice President Operations, Arabian Peninsula, Marie-Louise Ek has been appointed Vice President Human Resources, Middle East, Africa & Turkey, and Dean Murphy has been named Senior Director, Catering Development, Operations & Openings, Middle East, Africa & Turkey.
Aligi, who has been with Hilton for more than 20 years, will lead the luxury and full-service operations of more than 45 properties in the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait. He has 15 years of experience with Hilton in the Middle East covering business development, revenue management and marketing.
Most recently, Aligi served as Vice President of Marketing for the Americas, where he was instrumental in driving the performance of more than 6,000 hotels. The Italian executive has extensive experience in marketing, commercial and revenue management and has held a series of senior positions at Hilton, including Global Vice President, Marketing Performance and Insights; Vice President Marketing EMEA and Commercial Director MEA.
Marie-Louise will lead Hilton’s human resources function and drive the company’s talent and culture strategy in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey, where Hilton currently has more than 30,000 team members across 181 hotels.
Marie-Louise is a passionate HR leader with multi-market experience at Fortune 500 companies across multiple industries. A certified executive coach, she joined Hilton from PepsiCo as Senior Director of Human Resources for Africa, Middle East and South Asia.
In his new role, Dean will oversee regional operations, development and pipeline for restaurant openings, while supporting the key strategic priorities of local sourcing and food waste management. Prior to joining Hilton, Dean served as Director of Operations at Sunset Hospitality Group, where he managed the brand and concept across the GCC. He previously held leadership roles at Jumeirah Restaurant Group.
Jochem-Jan Sleiffer, President, Middle East, Africa and Turkey, Hilton, said: “These three leaders bring a wealth of experience to the MEA&T team as we usher in a new golden age of hospitality Nearly doubling that. Years to come. I look forward to serving in these key leadership roles with Aligi, Marie-Louise and Dean.” – trade arab news agency